


Gaming gone Wrong

by marikia



Category: PewDiePie (YouTube RPF), Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Singers (YouTube), Smosh
Genre: Blood, Demonic Possession, F/M, Fan Game, Fluff, Horror, M/M, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Original Character(s), Other, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, corpse party references, minor homestuck references, minor magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 10:41:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 16,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4916389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marikia/pseuds/marikia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All they wanted was for them to test the game. Markiplier and Pewdiepie had done it before, and Ian, Anthony, Dan, Phil and Nate all were willing to do it. So why had everything gone all wrong?</p>
<p>[Please tell me you haven't played the game]</p>
<p>[hello?!]</p>
<p>[...shit]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning of the mistake

It was late, very late at night in DC. I had just finished setting up for Mabon, and was getting ready for the opening blessing. My girlfriend was in the other room, working on her video game. She usually helped with the prep ritual, but she was deep into her designing, almost done in fact, so I didn’t bother to disturb her.

She was really excited for this game, and was going to be sending it off to a couple YouTube game stars once it was done. I had helped her contact Markiplier, Pewdiepie, danandphilgames, and smosh. I had also contacted Natewantstobattle. Yeah, he was mainly a singer, a PokeTuber and a less well known YouTuber compared to the others I just messaged, but I like his videos and thought he’d enjoy the game.They’d all seemed interested and agreed, seeing as it was free for them completely. 

Shaking my head, I cleared my head and sat down, getting ready to start the ritual. Now, I’m not going to explain the exact ritual, as it is a private one that my girlfriend and I made just for us for Mabon. However, since this Sabbat is a thankfulness and reflection holiday (Kinda like the American thanksgiving), I will say that it involves a lot of offerings and praying to both the god and goddess. 

The ritual itself took about fifteen minutes from start to finish, and after I felt really relaxed. Still, something felt, odd, about the circle closing. My energy still seemed to be connected to something and it was harder to shut it down than normal. “strange…” I shook my head and decided not to worry about it at the moment, instead focusing on cleaning up the mess from the ritual. 

Just as I finished scrubbing the incense bowl, which likes to hang on to bloody ash really tight, I heard an excited yell from the office. Five seconds later, my excitable girlfriend came running out the office and nearly knocked my over in her excitement. “Yes Jordan?” I asked, hugging her and raising an amused eyebrow, “What warranted such a huge glomp?” She was touchy-feely, but rarely did this.

“I finished! Danielle, I’m done!” She squealed, squeezing tightly. It took me a moment to realize what she meant. 

“really?! Show me!” I all but demanded, and got dragged into our bedroom by a very excited Jordan. She all but pushed me down into a chair, making me laugh. “woah, slow down darlin! We still have stuff we got to do!” She pouted at me a bit, but nodded. 

“Okay, but let me at least show you the screen~!” I thought for a moment, then nodded, to her delight. Quickly she pulled up the window with game, and boy did it make me shiver. 

The screen was an animation of a young male with light brown hair and eyes. For a few seconds he just stood there, smiling, then it would flash to a shot of him all bloody and hollow eyed. While that imaged showed, a faint flash of the words “YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE THE CYCLE” would appear, just barely long enough to read the words. 

“Shit, this is amazing, Jordan.” I praised, hugging my now blushing girlfriend tightly. “thanks” She hugged me back, then let me tug her to her feet. With a smile she followed me as I left the room, leaving the game up. Now we had another thing to be thankful for.

A couple hours later I sat on my laptop, a copy of the game on my screen. Jordan was curled up next me in bed, dead asleep, as I wrote emails and DMs to all of the YouTubers I had contacted about the game. Each email had the game attached and was carefully checked for program problems before being sent off. 

With a sigh I went to close my laptop, glancing at Jordan with a smile. It was only 10:30 pm, but she was out from how hard she had worked on this game… my eyes went back to the screen and I bit my lip. Might as well play it, right? I didn’t do well with horror games, especially 2d pixelated horror, which is exactly what this was. Still, she had worked so hard, I should try it. 

With another sigh, I reopened the game screen and clicked ‘New Game’ and waited for the screen to load up. This was such a bad idea… now I’m never going to sleep.

Finally the screen loaded up and I was treated to a lovely view of the front of the abandoned building that served as the setting of the story. Ugh, ghosts and hauntings didn’t sit right with me, not when my own philosophy from wicca is not to mess with shit like this. 

Taking a deep breathe, I pressed ‘New Game’, before blacking out. 

In four other locations in the states and England, five YouTubers unknowingly do the same, not realizing what is about to happen to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before someone goes "But there would be 7 YouTubers', why do you only mention five?" because 2 haven't entered yet. I won't say who, but think of the time zones of the two places mentioned. That's all I'll say on that. Please comment and leave kudos if you like it!


	2. Discovery of the mistake

“elle… Danielle~”

I groaned slightly, curling tighter. Leave me alone, I just found a safe place to sleep! A chuckle echoed in my ear, sounding slightly confused. “What do you mean by that, beautiful?”

wait… what? Blearily I opened my eyes, blinked once, then shot up straight. I’m in my apartment, safe.

“Danie…whoa!” my girlfriend got treated to a very extreme hug, me shaking badly. “What’s wrong? Nightmare?”

I didn’t reply, to relieved to be back in the real world. Stupid game pulled some horror game shit and I either got sucked into the game, or had a very vivid nightmare. Thank the god that no one else has played y… The YouTubers!

Quickly, I pulled away from Jordan and grabbed for my phone. Jordan didn’t say anything, only watched as I pulled up twitter and quickly DM’d markiplier, peiwdiepie, Smosh, Natewantstobattle, and DanandPhilgames.

[@peiwdiepie PLEASE SAY YOU HAVEN’T OPENED THE GAME FILE I SENT YOU!!]

I repeated this twitter message to the other YouTubers, and anxiously waited, Jordan hovering over my shoulder.

“Danielle, what happened?”

“Nothing, I hope. Pray to the Goddess I get replies and it was just a nightmare on my part…” I murmur, watching with hawk eyes as I refreshed the feed every minute.

Ten minutes pass.

Then half an hour.

At the forty-five minute mark, I was beginning to panic. They hadn’t been sucked in, right? Right?! In my panic of course, I didn’t notice that my girlfriend was getting worried and was trying to get my attention. Not that it mattered, as a ding on my phone made me jump and check.

{direct message from @danisnotonfire}

[What the hell is going on?!] 

“Oh thank the goddess!” I breathed, releasing tension that had been building up in my body.

[There’s a glitch in the game that normal systems can’t find. I only found it after I played the game myself.]

“Dani? What glitch?” I started, having forgotten that Jordan was right behind me. Shit, how do I explain this without her getting upset?

“Um…” Ah screw it, she’ll just be more pissed if i dance around it. “The ritual from last night? It latched onto the game… It’s a portal.”

“Are you saying you didn’t shut the damn circle before finishing!?” She screeched, glaring at me in shock as I cringed away.

“No! I did close it! It latched on before I did somehow!” Our argument was interrupted by twitter before we could continue as a probably freaked Dan messaged me again.

[I’ve never heard of a glitch that makes the player PASS OUT! Phil won’t respond to me! What the fuck Danielle?!]

[I can explain better via phone or Skype. DON’T SHUT DOWN THE GAME!]

I sent him my number and Skype, barely waiting a minute before i got a friend request on skype. Clicking on accept, I didn’t waste anytime and Skype called him. Jordan watched over my shoulder as the feed of Dan appeared on my screen.

He didn’t look to hot at the moment, with his hair everywhere, and his eyes and mouth twisted with frown lines.

“Okay, what the hell is going on? Did you hypnotize him or something through that damn game?” Jordan flinched at the anger and panic in his voice, not liking that he hated her game.

“No Dan, I didn’t. The game is fine, something latched onto it and corrupted the file. That’s what’s got Phil. I can fix it, but it’s not really possible remotely.” I muttered the last part, but apparently Dan heard me.

“Can you get to London then? You need to fix this.” I merely nodded at the thinly veiled demand, reaching back to grab Jordan’s hand.

“we’ll be leaving sometime tonight after I let my professors know I will be gone for a bit.” I sighed a bit and glanced at Jordan’s worried face. “I’ve got six YouTubers to save…”

“Wait, six? Who else got the game?!” Dan sat back from the screen, staring in horror as I replied heavily,

“Markiplier, Smosh, Peiwdiepie, and NateWantsToBattle. However, Four live here in the states, so they’ve probably been playing since I played last night at 10:30, or 3:30 am for you. Felix isn’t replying though, so I assume he’s also in the game.”

Dan didn’t say anything, just staring and stuttering slightly. Fear was the biggest emotion on his face, and I didn’t blame him. This shit was only supposed to happen in fan fictions.

“Look, I’ll be in London in 8-10 hours, will you meet us?” I waited for him to gather himself and nod. “Okay, I’ll tweet you the time we are supposed to be landing. Whatever you do, don’t shut down the game, or we might not be able to pull him out.”

We talked for a few more moments, then I closed out of Skype and stood, shaking slightly.

Jordan hadn’t spoken the entire time, just clinging to me.

“Jordan…” I turned and kissed her gently, before guiding her to the couch, where I sat again with my computer and began the process of buying plane tickets and letting my teachers know I would be out of country for a week or two.

“You don’t mind coming with?” She shook her head, making me smile, “thanks hun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't claim to know Dan or any of the YouTubers personally, so I'm sorry if Dan seems off. However, he is panicking, as Phil is passed out, and some person just told him that it was some haunted file that caused this XD


	3. Prepping for a rescue

Seven and a half hours later, Jordan and I landed in London Heathrow, tired and nervous. Without saying a word we went and gathered our stuff before going through customs and out to the front of the airport.

“He’s picking us up, right?” murmured Jordan, looking around quickly. I nodded, also looking around for Dan. We obviously had no way of knowing where their flat was, so we had to wait. He knew when we were supposed to land, now to find him.

“Danielle!” both of us looked in the direction of the yelling, Jordan being the first to spot a slowly walking Dan coming towards us.

“Dan, over here!” she called out, grasping her bags and heading over, and I quickly followed her.

It didn’t take long for us to reach him, lunging our bags. He didn’t look too hot at the moment. Actually, he looked worse than when we talked on Skype.

“Any change?”

“No. He’s muttered and screamed a few times, but hasn’t woken up.” Dan sighed, taking one of my two bags and motioning us to follow him out. Seeing the man in front of me like this hurt a lot. I was the cause of this…

“Dan?” he didn’t look back at me, only humming to show that he had heard me.

“He’ll be okay, I promise.”

“I hope you’re right.”

The rest of our trip to Dan’s apartment was done mostly in silence, except when he explained to Jordan and me how to get a ticket for the Underground. Lord I hate trains…

So while we rode, I distracted myself by messaging Morgan Want and Marzia to check on Nate and Felix.

“Dani,” The quiet voice so close made me jump and whip my head up from my phone. Dan was staring at me like some strange creature, which was slightly disconcerting.

“Yes?”

“We are getting off at the next station.”

“Oh, Okay.” I agreed, looking away to Jordan, who was ignoring the world with her headphones in. Or, I think she’s ignoring the world, who knows.

Dan and I fell back into an uncomfortable silence, so I distracted myself thinking of how I was going to pull Phil and the others out. It was gonna be a bitch to do, especially with Dan and his fear of supernatural things…

“This is our stop.” Again, he startled me. Quickly I grabbed Jordan and followed him off the train into who knows where London. Apparently the train ride had let him calm down some, because he smiled a little as he led us through the train station, joking,

“You’re gonna be the envy of all the fangirls; you’ll see where we live!” Jordan laughed, debunking my ‘ignoring the world’ theory,

“Better move then, or you’ll be invaded!” All three of us grinned, and fell back into a more comfortable silence as we walked. There wasn’t much to talk about that wouldn’t bring up the current problem anyway.

After about a ten minute walk, Dan paused in front of a flat complex and pulled out a key.

“This way.” Once inside the building, we walked up a flight of stairs, through the door to their actual apartment, then up two more flights to the office. Needless to say, Jordan and I were panting slightly, but Dan was obviously fine.

The room was still dark, only illuminated by the dim glow of the game opening screen.

“Good, it’s still open…” I mutter, stepping into the room and pushing the desk chair out of the way. Phil was laying on the couch, so I didn’t have to worry about moving him luckily. Behind me, I heard Dan ask Jordan something, but I just focused on setting up for what I need to do.

First, I set white, black, brown, pink, gray, and purple candles in a loose circle throughout the room. Once those were set, I put a small bowl of water, my athame, which is a ceremonial knife for cutting herbs and channeling, and a small bowl of herbs down. Finally, I put statuettes of Hermes and Kronos down. I’m a hellenistic Wiccan, hence Hermes and Kronos, or Travel and time/space.

“There. Hey Dan?” I turned around, only to stop and blink. Dan was staring at my set up in shock. “Dan…?”

“What the bloody hell are you doing?” He squeaked in shock, making me snort slightly.

“What does it look like? I’m setting up to go get Phil.” I pinned him with a glare. “You cannot honestly believe that he just went into a coma for no reason.” Dan went silent and just stared at me.

Sighing, I turned away and pulled out some bread and a bottle of oj. It was all I could pick up at the airport that was remotely natural. Carefully I placed them in front of the two statues and prayed silently. After a moment, I turned back to Dan and motioned for him to come over to me. Reluctantly he did so.

“Alright, sit down in front of the bowl, and grab both of my hands.” I knelt down, lighting each candle before settling down next to Dan, who took both my hands.

“Good, Jordan, shut the door please? And make sure everyone is safe while we do this.” She nodded and settled on the couch next to Phil, absently petting his head. Ignoring this, I turned back to Dan.

“Now, close your eyes.” I waited till he did so.

“I’m going to start, okay? I want you to focus on getting to Phil.” I got a slow nod, though I could tell he was nervous, which makes sense. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and grounded myself quickly before welcoming the elements and gods to the circle, my voice falling into a rhythmic chant.

Once that was done, I began the spell and search.

Not even a minute passes before I feel myself falling and slowly pass out, still gripping tightly to Dan.


	4. Where are we?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late upload! I got sick and was out of commission for a week.

A whine and muffled curse of pain was the first thing I heard as I woke up from the spell. Carefully, so as not to irritate my throbbing head and chest, I rolled towards the sound and peeked my eyes open.

Dan was curled in a ball and clutching his chest with one hand, his other securely in mine, groaning and cursing.

“Relax your muscles slowly, it’ll go away in a minute.” I murmured, pushing myself up into a sitting position. My eyes were fully open and taking in the world around us while I waited for Dan to relax.

Even though this was a pixelated game, it sure doesn’t look like it, which is still as trippy as the first time. Everything looked like the normal world, yet I could hear the eerie, looping, wind sound track. That’s creepier in real life, honestly, as it just cements that this whole world is fake.

“Shit this is creepy.” Dan muttered after a few moments of me pondering said creepy area. I felt his hand leave mine and watched as his ridiculously tall torso blocked my view.

“Agreed. Feeling better?” He nodded slightly as he looked around.

“Where the hell are we?” Perhaps it was the situation, or I was stressed, but I found his confusion adorable and oddly amusing. So of course I started chuckling like an insane person, making him look at me with a bit of worry.

“We’re inside the game.” I stood and brushed my clothes off, offering him a hand. “The ritual took our souls and placed them inside the game.”

“What?! That’s impossible?!” He had grabbed my to stand, but now just sat there in shock. I sighed and yanked him enough to get him to scramble up or risk falling over.

“Obviously it’s not, or we wouldn’t be here right now. It happened to Phil as well, only difference is that he doesn’t have a guide to protect him.” I waved a hand to my left, at a very large building with a chipped sign that read, “SCHO L HO SE 4”

“That’s the game right there. You have to survive the school building. Phil’s in there, probably with others scattered around, and possibly hurt.” Dan flinched, paling. I didn’t enjoy saying these things, but we really couldn’t afford Dan and his logical doubt right now.

“Look,” I whisper, gripping his hand again and gently tugging him towards the school. The poor man was scared, and my snapping hadn’t helped. “The sooner we get in there and find them, the sooner we get out and back to our lives.”

“R.right…” He took a moment and seemed to pull himself together, at least enough to walk without me dragging him, but I could still feel him trembling slightly.

Slowly the two of us approached the darkened doorway of the school. Nothing had stirred yet, which was putting us both on edge, even though I knew nothing would until we met the greeting ghost. I paused when we reached the door and tightened my grip on Dan, reassuring myself that he was still there.

“Ready?”

“Mhm… let’s save Phil.” Together we shoved the door open and stepped in. No more than three steps in and the damned door did the stereotypical slamming shut and locked behind us. Dan jumped and glanced back groaning,

“Fucking gre..”

“Dan, it doesn’t matter. our way out is a spell.” He paused and nodded, remembering the ritual. Something heard us though, because a tired voice hissed,

“ _There’s no way out…_ ” Both of us just about jumped out of our skin, breaking our grip and spinning to face away from the door.

Standing in front of us was a child, probably no older than sixteen. He was pale, paler than Phil, and had dark red hair. The boy was glaring sadly at both of us with greyish eyes, hands resting loosely in his jean pockets. All in all, he seemed normal, except for two things.

1\. He was floating about two inches above the ground.

2\. There was a huge blood stain dripping from his neck down the front of his grey t-shirt.

“How…” Muttered Dan, paling even more than he had already become. Seriously, where the hell was all the blood going? I hadn’t felt anything when he bumped me earlier….

“He’s one of the ghosts here.” I explained to him, ignoring the boy, “His name’s Kenneth, or Ken for short.” Ken raised an eyebrow at me.

“How did you know?” I turned to him, ignoring the now gaping Dan.

“I helped design the game, plus…” I pulled out a round pentacle charm that had been tucked under my shirt the whole time. Ken stared in shock before nodding slowly.

“That’s why the room feels safe… I guess that the gaping giant is with you as well?” I nodded slightly, grinning at the indignant noise from Dan.

“Excuse me!?” Heh, who knew that’s what would snap him out of his shock? Ken scoffed at him and went to say something, but I interrupted him.

“Ken, has anyone else come by?”

“Yeah, a couple of characters, why?” I bit my lip and glanced at Dan, who had once again gone silent.

“Did they look out of place?” Ken thought for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“Yeah, two of them spent about ten minutes freaking out and making really bad puns about ghosts and horror games. One of them had a weird fohawk thing and muttered something about needing a box, and another started cursing me out in a different language.”

Okay, that was four…

“Anyone else?” Ken thought again, tapping a silent rhythm on his leg.

“mm… there was one guy who came through… He had glasses on and looked a bit asian.” Ken shuddered and shook his head. “There was something off about him though, like the shadow was already leaching off of him.”

“What…?” Shit, that was really bad. If shadow had already gotten one of the YouTuber’s, I’d have to purge them…

“There was one other, real pale dude with an odd sense of fashion. He also told me a couple really bad ghost puns before freaking and running towards Tara’s hall.”

Ken motioned to a dimly lit corridor to our left, “I heard a scream earlier.

Dan made a strange noise, kinda like a gasp and yell, in the back of his throat.

“Danielle!”

“I know!” I grabbed his hand and spun towards the hall, breaking into a dead sprint. I barely paused to yell a command at Ken over my shoulder.

“Find them!”

Hopefully we’d find everyone before it was too late…


	5. The first of six

In hindsight, running down that hall was probably not my best idea, as we ended up being plunged into the shadowy depths of the rotted corridors. I could hear Dan’s heavy breathing in my ear as we slowed. While not dark per say, it was certainly dim enough to stop my sprinting in favor of careful steps.

“Dani?” Dan muttered, glancing around carefully, “Do you know where we are?”

“Mhm… This is the science and technology wing of the school.” I explained, running a hand slowly over the age rotted walls. “If we’re lucky, we’ll find Phil without running into The Shadow…”A shudder ran down my spine at the very thought of that thrice damned demon.

“The Shadow?” whispered Dan, pausing. I could feel him shaking and spastically gripping my hand like a life line. The poor man was in a perfect storm of his fears, and couldn’t escape. In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t broken down yet…

“It’s a demon that latched onto the school. The damn thing lives off the residual energy that the ghosts trapped here give off. In order to beat the game, you have to free the Ghosts.” I tugged at his hand slightly so we could get going.

“Okay… There are places to hide right?” demanded Dan, though his voice wavered and cracked a bit halfway through. I didn’t answer though, freezing in place and forcing him to stop, as I had just spotted the one thing we had to avoid.

Floating slowly down the hall ahead of us, facing away luckily, was something that seemed to suck in light. It had no defined shape, instead acting more like a giant cloud of gas or a half filled balloon that had been heated up.

“Dani?” Thank the goddess that Dan had the sense to lean down and whisper it into my ear, so the thing didn’t hear him. Carefully I twisted my head till my lips almost rested on his cheek and murmured,

“Stay silent and when I turn back, slip into the door to our left.” As I spoke, I reached out and carefully shoved said door open. I felt him nod in agreement before turning back. There was a split second hesitation before he scurried through the door, pulling me along. As soon as I was in, Dan shut the door and leaned on it.

“What happened?”

“I saw The Shadow. It was going down the hallway in front of us.” Dan paled and sunk to the floor, realizing what that meant.

“How are we supposed to find Phil if that thing is there?” I just knelt in front of him and patted his knee, smiling sadly.

“We’ll go out in a few minutes, it should be gone by then. After we can go find Phil.” I promised.

“Or you could turn around.” I nearly jumped out of my skin at the scratchy voice. Dan’s head had snapped up from where he had laid it on his knees, staring in shock behind me.

Sitting on a rather wobbly looking chair was a dirty and bruised Phil. His normally pale skin was even paler than normal and speckled with dirt, slightly shiny from sweat, and marred by a few bloody cuts. Black hair hung limply around his face, too damp to hold it’s normal shape.

The man grinned at the two of us and got up, wincing slightly as he walked over, only to get tackled by a very relieved Dan. I didn’t even care that he had almost flattened me in his attempt to get to Phil.

“Where did you wake up?” The older male looked at me from over Dan’s shoulder, rubbing his back gently. Dan had buried his face into Phil’s neck, obviously too freaked from the last day or so to give a damn about what it looked like. Plus, no one besides me could see.

“I woke up in the lobby of the building. The front door was locked, so I sat there and waited to see what would happen.” He shuddered slightly as he moved on, “I met a g.ghost, ken I think he said his name was?”

“That’s his name. He’s the greeter for the game.” Phil blinked at me, only just processing that I was the one speaking.

“We’re inside the game file? Wait, who are you?” I went to answer, but Dan beat me to it.

“She’s Danielle, the one who asked us to play the game file.” He straightened in Phil’s grip and turned to watch me stand up without completely breaking the embrace. I just nodded and grimaced,

“Yeah, sorry about this. Something went wrong between the game being finished and me sending the file.” Phil smiled weakly and waved my apology off.

“It’s fine, you can get us out of here, right?” I nodded and patted my hip, where a small bag rested.

“Yeah, I can. Since I know how the game works, I can hack it somewhat to give me things that will help. Plus we still need to find the other five.” Both of them stared at me,

“Five? Who else got pulled into this hell hole?” I sighed at the unison question, crossing my arms and gripping at them spastically.

“Mark, Felix, Ian, Anthony, and Nate,” I paused when I saw their confusion about the last name and rolled my eyes. “NateWantsToBattle, he’s mainly a musician/singer and pokeTuber.” They nodded, but still looked confused. “Anyway, I have no clue what order they entered, only that they probably entered at the same time or right after the first time I entered.”

“Wait, first time?” Dan interrupted me, earning a glare from me.

“Yes, I’m able to get in and out of the game. As I was saying, I don’t know the order they entered. They could be anywhere in this huge ass school. There are several classrooms that are open, plus multiple floors and holes. For all we know, they could be trapped somewhere.” I motioned to Phil. “We got lucky that you didn’t run far and that The Shadow forced us to hide.” I sighed and glanced back at the door. I didn’t feel comfortable staying here much longer…

“We need to move, soon.”

“What!? Why?” I didn’t bother to ask who had yelped, as it didn’t really matter.

“Because the game is designed to prevent camping in all but one room on the second floor, which acts as a ‘save point’ of sorts. There are ‘quick saves’ but you have to go to this room to restore health. We’re in a kind of ‘quick save’ right now.” They nodded, just going with what I was saying, and moved closer to me.

I glanced back at them, smiling weakly.

“The room will heal you Phil.” Said man smiled in relief, and we left the room cautiously. The stairs were at the other end of the hallway and down a side hall, so we were going to have to sprint for it.

I explained quickly to them, then counted down silently. Dan and Phil waited tensely for my signal.

“now.” A slight pause, then we sprinted down the hallways, barely glancing around to make sure our feet didn’t end up in any holes. That would’ve fucked us over badly.

The staircase we took was near the front end of the school, so we came out in the hallway that led right to the safe room. I thanked the horned god and put on a burst of speed, painfully aware of the loud panting from Dan and Phil.

“Almost there!” I pointed towards a door, three rooms from us. The sight must have encouraged the two brits, because they were suddenly even with me.

A long minute later we ripped the door open, slipping inside the slightly smoky room and slamming the door shut. We all breathed a sigh of relief as the pain from sprinting, or cuts in Phil’s case, faded in the mountain smelling smoke.

None of us could have known that our haste to heal and rest safely would nearly cost two people their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is a lot of talking, but there are some things that have to be known at this point.


	6. The second of six

A short rest was all any of us needed at the moment, so once the cuts and tiredness had passed, the three of us went back into the hallway. Dan was hanging onto Phil’s arm like a leech, but Phil was doing the same, so it wasn’t really a laughable thing.

“This way,” I whispered, waving for them to follow me slowly down the hallway left of the safe room. Somewhere this way was a bathroom and an item room that held a key we would need to get to the basement.

It took almost ten minutes to walk to the end of the hall that probably should only take half that to traverse due to our slow pace and constant dodging into classrooms. Granted, we found bandages, a sharp bit of glass, and a key while we did this, so it wasn’t a horrible thing. By the time we reached the end though, my nerves were on end so the shadowy shape ahead made me jump.

“What?!” Dan hissed, gripping Phil tighter. I held up a hand to silence him and squinted a bit. the short hallway in front of us led to a parallel hall, and the door ahead was the boys bathroom. Someone was standing by the door, apparently trying to get in, or perhaps block it?

Slowly the three of us approached the shadow, who didn’t notice and continued messing with the door, all of us poised to run. We were half way there when the shadow turned a bit and the dim light was just enough for me to make out a few features. Glasses, black holes where the ear lobe should be, dark anime’ish hair…

“Nate?” The call made the shadow turn fully, revealing themselves to us. The male was wearing a dark green shirt and black jacket, and was holding what looked to be a small blade or wrench in his left hand. There was no doubt though, it was Nate, aka NateWantsToBattle. He grinned at us, teeth showing and a slight glow around his eyes, before turning and heading down the hallway to the left of us.

I hurried forward, Dan and Phil close behind, trying to catch up with him. We paused by the bathroom door, me panting, and inspected the handle. Apparently he had been trying to block the door, but why?

I glance at Phil, who nodded and waved Dan and I out of the way. We did so, watching as Phil shouldered the door open, before stepping inside. A rancid smell hit all of us, nearly making me collapse but Dan caught me, and all of us covered our faces.

“ugh, no ones cleaned this in a while, have they?” muttered Phil, turning slightly green. I nodded my agreement and went to speak, only to be interrupted by the most horrible sound I had heard in my 20 short years.

It was this horrible mix of screaming, crying, choking and wretching, followed by the breathiest “help” I’d ever heard.

All three of us scrambled over the broken floor towards the sound, pausing at a stall door, unsure of what we would find. The sound of scrambling and choking pushed me to open the stall, only to choke back a scream and fall into Phil. Both brits gasped and Dan scrambled forward, while I could only stare in shock.

Staring at me with watering, bloodshot eyes, was Ian Hecox.

A rope was wrapped around his neck, keeping suspended about an inch too far above the ground for him to stand on his toes. His hands were starting to bleed, still scrabbling at the noose. Saliva dripped from his gasping mouth, choking as he attempted to breathe. Dan was trying to get him down, but it was only making him choke more.

It was clear that he was beginning to panic more, as he and Ian stared at me helplessly. Fuck, what to do, what to do?!

“ah… ah! Dan, get him on your shoulders!” I shouted desperately, hoping it would loosen the tension. We needed to get the rope to turn lax…

He nodded and slipped between Ians’ legs and slowly stood up. Thank the god and goddess for him being ridiculously tall, because when he straightened, the rope stopped choking Ian. I sighed in relief and relaxed against Phil, who was still holding me up.

“Okay… Here, I can cut him down with the glass. Dani, can you stand by yourself for a moment?” I nodded and Phil slipped around me, pulling out the glass shard, moving over to Dan and Ian. It took a minute of Phil sawing, and Dan supporting himself by bracing on the walls, but they got the rope cut. Then the two helped Ian get off Dan’s shoulders.

“Ian?” I moved closer to the gasping and crying man, hesitantly hugging him, relieved he was alive. He tensed for a second, but then relaxed against me. Phil reached over us and undid the knot on the noose, tossing the section of rope away.

“Thank you, thank you…” he muttered, just hanging on for a moment. Dan placed a hand on his shoulder, only to be caught off guard when Ian latched onto him as well, muttering his thanks.

“I’m just glad you’re alive. Come on, lets get back to the safe room.” I tugged on him, and slowly led him away from the bathroom, followed by Dan and Phil. We would worry about Nate later.

It took us less time to get back to the safe room because we were rushing, but luckily nothing got in our way. Once inside the safe room I checked over Ian’s neck and hands, both of which were bruised and slightly bloody, hoping there was no permanent damage. He winced under my soft touches, but didn’t say anything, and the bruises were quickly fading in the incense filled room.

“What.. is this stuff?” he asked hoarsely, waving the smoke out of his face. I smiled a bit, noticing Dan and Phil’s curious faces out of the corner of my eye.

“It’s sage, a purifying herb. It’s used by priests, priestesses and normal people to purify places. In the game, injuries are caused by corrupted energy, so sage heals every ‘wound’.” I frowned slightly as I watched Ian’s neck heal. “The thing is, the ‘character’ aka us, shouldn’t be able to be injured by anything but The Shadow…”

I looked up, feeling sick. Phil seemed to realize what I was saying and had turned slightly green again. Dan and Ian looked confused though.

“What do you mean, Dani?” I gulped slightly.

“Ian, Nate was the one who did this to you, right?” He frowned, paling a bit from the reminder.

“Slightly asian looking guy with gauges and glasses, right? yeah, why?” Shit…

“Ian, he’s a YouTuber like you, Anthony, Dan and Phil. He shouldn’t have been able to hurt you because he’s a ‘character’ meaning that…” Dan caught on and slumped back.

“He’s possessed by that shadow thing.”

…Shit…


	7. The third of six

The revelation of an evil YouTuber on the loose hit all of us hard. Dan was in denial, Phil was distracting himself by calming Dan. I sat next to Ian, thinking about how I could purge him within a game.

It wasn’t going to be as simple as an exorcism in the real world. We were all just souls, energy with conscious thought. Exorcism works by separating ‘evil’ energy from ‘good’ energy, and determines what is good energy by which energy has left the oldest signature on the body. If there is no body, I could accidentally banish Nates' energy instead of The Shadows.

“Anthony…” The almost broken whisper lifted me out of my worrying thoughts and diverted them onto Ian. He was curled against the wall next to me, leaning slightly onto my body. While he had calmed some, he was still shaken for obvious reasons.

“Where was he Ian?” I asked softly, shifting so I could wrap an arm around him. Ian let out a soft sigh.

“I last saw him on the third floor. He, Nate, and I were up there looking for somewhere safe to rest. We had found Nate being attacked by what looked like a giant black dog, and helped him. After the thing… dissolved away, Nate joined us, but Anthony didn’t want him to. He didn’t trust him when he said there was a safe room on the second floor.” He paused, gulping.

I just listened, worried. If Nate had been with Anthony, then he knew where the other was.

“Anthony and I got into a fight, and he said he was going to stay in one of the choir room upstairs, so Nate and I left.” He buried his face into his hands. “I should have listened to him…” All I could do was hug him, thinking hard.

“…Dan, Phil. Watch Ian, okay? I’m going to go get Anthony.” Dan nodded quickly, obviously glad he didn’t have to leave, but Phil looked at me with worry.

“What about you?” I just smiled as I pushed myself to my feet.

“I’ll be fine, the game can’t hurt me, and I can hold my own in a fight.” To prove my point, I concentrated for a moment, and pulled a knife out of thin air.

“See? I can just hack the game.” Ah, the joys of being the energy version of a creator. Phil stared for a moment, then nodded reluctantly.

“Alright, good luck.” The other two echoed his words to me, filling me with a warm energy as I left the room. I could do this.

Less than a minute later, I was running up the stairs, cursing my cockiness. Behind me was a ghost, specifically Termia. She was one of the twelve children ghost you’re supposed to free, but the downside is they tend to chase you and get you killed the same way they did.

Termia was killed by being pushed down the stairs, so of course she was going to make me run up the obviously rickety steps. I had already nearly bounced back down twice, and didn’t want it to happen again, so I braced on the wall and ran full tilt up.

Thankfully the gaming programming kicked in, and she stopped chasing me once I got up the stairs. Running is not my strength, so I ended up doubled over at the top, panting.

“Hey, you okay?” A large hand pressed into my back, rubbing in slow circles as I caught my breath. I recognized the voice, but couldn’t quite place it.

“y.yeah…” Note to self, go to the damn gym once this is over! I shouldn’t be so out of shape that my soul feels it!

“You sure? Ya sound like ya ran all the way those stairs.”

“That’s cause I did.” The person chuckled, irking me. I knew that voice, who the fuck was it? Slowly I straightened up, shrugging the hand off my back as I did so, and looked around for the person who had been touching me.

“Hey.” Crap.

“Hi Nate…”

“How’d you know my name?” He asked, chuckling again when I deadpanned at him. “You’re a fan.” I rolled my eyes at him, too stressed to feel flustered.

“No, I am not a fan. Does it look like I blow air in peoples faces?” He just grinned at me, causing a shudder to run down my spine. At first glance, he seemed completely normal. Nothing abnormal, until you took a close look at his face. Though it was hidden mostly behind his glasses, there was a faint glow around and in his eyes, and his pupils were pinpricks. There was no way he could see, yet he was as sure as he would be in normal light.

“So, what’s your name?” He asked, cocking his head to the side. I huffed a bit, not wanting to give my name since he was possessed, but wasn’t going to be rude.

“Call me Dani, I’m one of the creators of the game.” I held out a hand to shake, barely keeping from yanking it back as soon as he touched me. I could feel the foul energy swirling just below his own ‘skin’. It felt like hot grease, swirling and popping, yet Nate showed no sign of noticing it.

Shit, he’s further taken than I thought. I smiled at him, holding back the urge to vomit, and coughed slightly.

“Do you mind helping me find someone?” Nate stiffened and for a split second I saw a dark smirk cross his face, but it was gone so fast I couldn’t be sure.

“Of course, where to?” I motioned down the hallway, bracing myself, before heading in that direction. Nate fell into step with me, staying mostly silent, a hand bracing against my back. The gesture would have been comforting, if it weren’t for the small fact that he was currently possessed by that damn demon.

We walked for about five minutes before I could make out the choir room door. It was at that moment I felt Nates’ hand tense and his nails dig into my back.

“So, you’re looking for Anthony?” There was a beat of silence before Nate drew his hand away. I had tensed when his nails dug into me, but relaxed when his hand left.

My instincts all but screaming at me to ‘MOVE!’ was the only reason I didn’t get a foot long knife poked through my heart. I pulled some matrix shit, and by that I mean I dove to the ground, rolling and popping up like a jack in the box.

“Well, well, you’re fast.” Shadow, he wasn’t Nate at all, smirked at me. He was fingering the silvery blade with the care most gamers show brand new game discs, swaying slightly.

Shit shit shit shit… I had to disarm him some how…

Shadow didn’t give me much time to think, charging at full speed with the knife in front of him, and I barely dodged a killing blow. He did clip me with the tip of the knife, slicing a shallow cut up the length of my upper arm.

Fuuuuuuuuuuu

“Motherfucker!” Shadow blinked at me, confused.

“Funny, I didn’t know ghosts could bleed. What a strange game… oh well!” I gaped at him, unable to process what he said.

“Wha… who told you I was a ghost?!” He shrugged, coming at me again. Great, now I’ve got a YouTuber that thought I was a ghost, a fucking ghost. My distraction cost me, as I got yet another cut, this time on my chest.

“Ow!” Shadow snickered at me, staring at me over the bloody blade.

“You’re gonna become a redead ghost soon if you don’t fight back.” I flipped him off, moving out of the way and slashing at his arm, successfully cutting him.

“that was horrible and you know it.” Shadow shrugged again.

“I’ve got your ability with puns.”

“Joy.” I deadpanned, scurrying away from his swinging blade, only to trip and fall. Fucking great. Shadow walked over to me, twirling the blade in between his fingers.

“Bye bye bitch.” I shut my eyes, scrabbling backwards as best I could. Not the best choice, but I panicked. I could hear his steps getting closer as he was walking faster than I could scoot away. There was another sound, but I didn’t really acknowledge it as my mind was more fixated on the fact I was going to be killed.

I hit a wall and tensed, waiting for the blow, but it never came. Instead I saw the shadow of something over me through my eyelids, heard the sound of a blade slicing flesh and something hitting the floor, and felt and smelt the coppery tang of blood. Hesitantly I peeked my eyes open.

Laying on the floor by my feet was Nate, seemingly passed out. I couldn’t tell yet who was above me, but I could see blood dripping from a wound on their side. Slowly I reached up to touch them, earning a hiss and flinch.

“ow…” I knew that voice… My head snapped up to stare right into the eyes of the person I was sent to find, pain clouding them. He smiled at me, arms shaking as they held his weight above me.

“Are you okay?” I nodded, and he sighed in relief, eyes hooding.

“Good…” that was all the warning I got before he slumped onto me.

I wrapped my arms around him and pressed against his wound, trying to stem the bleeding.

“Anthony?! Hey!” No response…

Oh god…


	8. The fourth of six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, there is a somewhat graphic description of an injury near the very beginning, I've marked it if you want to avoid it, but it's barely two sentences, just in case.

“Anthony?! Anthony!” I kept calling his name, even though I knew that he wouldn’t answer. It felt like forever, but was probably only a minute or two, before I finally stopped freaking out enough to actually do something.

With a bit of effort I got Anthony off of me and laying on the floor. I hadn’t moved my hand from his side though, and was inwardly cringing at the sickeningly warm and sticky liquid on my hand. Without looking at my hand, I ripped my shirt with the other, using the pieces to press into the wound. Once the fabric was under my hand I chanced a look.

Anthony was pale and breathing lightly, pained winces dancing through his body, and blood soaked the entire left side of his shirt.

“Shit…” I had to check the actual wound, but that required removing the bandages. I took a deep breath and pulled the cloth aside, nearly vomiting at the sight, but I managed not to.

**[G** **raphic]**

The knife had stabbed almost all the way through, then yanked roughly back out, leaving a jagged wound the size of my palm. I could see flesh and blood, but no organs or bone thankfully. The flesh was torn though, and small chucks floated in the growing crimson pool. 

**[end of graphic]**

 

Quickly I covered the wound again and focused on the game. It took longer than getting the knife, but I got sage and some actual bandages. Carefully I bandaged the wound, putting a sage leaf between each layer and praying to the goddess, then taped the bandage down.

Having done what I could for Anthony, I turned my attention to Nate.

He was still out cold, uninjured besides the knife wound, from what I could see from my angle. Slowly I inched around Anthony towards Nate, standing and arming myself with my knife, warily stepping forward.

There was no reaction to me moving closer so I relaxed a bit and knelt by his body.

He was a bit beat up, bleeding from the cut and a couple scratches along with a nasty bump from falling, but other than that he was okay. Not wanting to risk Anthony’s or my safety I summoned some rope and handcuffs to secure Nate.

Satisfied with my job I went back to Anthony, grunting in exertion as I hauled him upright. I managed to balance him with his arms over my shoulders so I was basically dragging him. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was the best I could do.

Now, what to do about Nate? Maybe I could drag him…?

Turns out, didn’t matter, he woke up as I was turning to move towards him again. I tensed at once, still armed with the knife, but now very badly handicapped with Anthony on my back.

“ugh… what hit me?” He groaned, attempting to sit up, wincing in pain and opening his eyes. “What the hell? Why the fuck am I tied up?!” Nate looked around frantically, spotting me,

“Uh, hey! can you help me?” He looked legitimately scared, so I slowly approached him.

“Depends, you aren’t going to attack me again?”

“um… no?” I couldn’t help the giggle that came out. He was too adorable when confused.

“Alright. I’ll help you up, but I’m not untying you.” I raised a hand to stop him from protesting, and to keep Anthony in place.

“Your body attacked us earlier, so until I can get it back into your control, its’ gonna stay bound.” The confusion on his face only grew as I bent and helped pull him up, not that I blamed him. The way I had just danced around his possession was confusing as shit, but it was the best I could do right now.

“Look, just, follow me and keep Anthony on my back until we get to the second floor, okay?” He nodded slowly and raised an eyebrow, looking at the ropes holding his arms in place.

“Ah, right…” I moved the ropes to keep him close, so he was only handcuffed with a rope around his waist. He nodded his thanks, sighing.

“You gonna explain what happened?” I stared him the eye, noticing that there was still a glow around his eyes but his pupils were back to normal. Hm…

“Once we are where we need to go.” The walk down the stairs was not something I wanted to repeat at all.

 

Between keeping Anthony on my back, which is hard as I am shorter than him, and keeping an eye on Nate, I was ready to collapse.

“Almost… there” I muttered, limping along the hallway towards the safe room. At this point I just wanted Anthony safe and Nate near so I could purge and heal his damn soul. My head drooped slightly with weariness, and once again I felt a what should be comforting hand on my shoulder, Nate, but I was too painfully aware that he was still possessed…

“Dani!” My head snapped up to stare at the strange picture of Dan, of all people, running towards the three of us. Nate’s hand tightened on my shoulder, and that was all it took for me to yell out a warning, stopping Dan in his tracks.

The four, well three, of us stood in a strange standstill as I gauged the danger level to Dan, Anthony and myself.

“Nate.”

“Yeah?”

“Step back three steps.” I heard a shuffle, so I assumed he had stepped back. Good… Next I nodded to Dan to come forward. The brit did so, carefully taking Anthony, before backing off to the safe room door. Luckily it was only a half dozen or so feet away.

I sighed and tugged lightly at the rope I held in my hand, turning a bit.

“Nate?” He was standing there silently, twitching a bit, which unnerved me. I didn’t move closer to him though, instead I started walking, forcing him to follow me. Strangly, the closer we got to the door, the more agitated he got. Did the protective radius work THAT well? I disregarded it and pulled him closer to the door, which by this point I had reached.

I got him almost to the door when he snapped, yanking back against me, nearly pulling me off my feet. My yelp caught everyones attention though, as the door swung open and Dan and Phil were there.

It took them a second to understand what was going on, but a split second after, both of them were grasping the rope and hauling Nate inside the door. It took a minute, but the three of us were rewarded for our efforts with the full weight of Nate flying into us and the room.

Ian was by the door and slammed it shut, before going back to Anthony, pulling his body out of our way.

I panted slightly, managing to wiggle away from the pile, watching as Dan and Phil distangled themselves from Nate and tied him up. I frowned sadly, not at all liking this.

His eyes were vacillating between dilating and becoming pinpricks, and a terrifying scream echoed through the room. It sounded like a mixture between pure terror and nails on a chalkboard. That could not be good on his chords…

The three, relatively, sane people in the room looked at me with pained and confused looks, covering their ears. I was doing the same, but had to come up with something. One thing I did know was,

“The sage will purify him!” They nodded after a few seconds, having to decipher what I had mouthed. Phil got very sick of the screaming and grabbed a piece of ripped cloth, balling it up and shoving it in Nates’ mouth.

“Finally!” groaned Ian, slumping back into the wall, absently petting Anthonys’ hair for lack of things to do. “Now what?”

I stared at the unconscious form of Anthony and the pained, crying form of Nate. Slowly, I closed my eyes and turned away from the two.

“Now, we pray that the god and goddess will heal them, and we wait.”


	9. Purification

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late and short update, I've been busy with Classes.

Waiting is probably the most painful situation in the world when it comes to injured people. None of us had a watch that worked in this world, so we didn’t have a concept of time. I just know that at some point I took Nate and laid his head on my lap, petting his hair in an attempt to distract him from the pain that the purification was putting him through. Anthony was lying on Ian’s lap, and Dan had fallen asleep against Phil.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember was Nate sitting up and screaming shrilly through the makeshift gag. It was a piercing noise, and terrified all of us.

I almost backed away but realized that there was black smoke coming out of his mouth. The Shadow!

“Dan! Open the door!” He stared at me like I was crazy, but I had latched onto Nate and was forcing as much energy into him as I safely could to help.

“NOW!” My screech got him moving, just in time. The Shadow was forced completely out the door mere seconds after Dan opened it. He slammed it shut and leaned back, staring at the both of us, adrenaline draining from him.

Nate slumped into my arms with a whimper and I fell back as well, still holding him, into Phil. The amount of energy I had forced into Nate cost me a lot, as my vision was starting to go blurry, but I forced myself to stay awake enough to pull the gag from Nate’s mouth.

He grunted when I did, breathing heavily. The poor man twisted around in my weak grip, looking around the room and taking in all the smoke and tense bodies.

“What happened?” A giggle escaped me, inopportune, but I couldn’t help it. My brain wasn’t functioning well from the lack of energy. Oh the room would restore it, but not instantly, so they would be stuck with a ditzy Dani for a while.

“The Shadow rode you like a horse~” Nate jolted and looked down at me, pure confusion on his face, before looking up at Phil.

“What?”

“She’s loopy right now. She means you were possessed by the demon, thingie, that’s running around. This here smoke, along with Dani, kicked the bloody thing out of you.”

At least, that’s what I think he said… I apparently passed out from lack of energy, because I woke up sometime later, in a different position. This time I was the one laying on someones lap, though I couldn’t tell who it was.

“ugh…” My pillow shifted, a hand running through my hair, and I could feel someone bending down.

“welcome to the world of the living.” That voice… who was it? My foggy brain didn’t process the timbre of the voice for a few seconds, but when it did, I nearly smacked my face into his chin.

“Anthony?! what the hell are you… ooh..” Okay, sitting up fast was a bad idea. Anthony grabbed my shoulders and gently forced me back into laying on his lap. He then covered my eyes to protect them from the dim light.

“Easy, you’ve been out for a long time.” Anthony scolded, waiting until I relaxed to remove his hand. I scoffed, but relaxed against his lap.

“Says the one who was out just as long as me.”

“Be nice Dani.”

“Yes dad.” I smirked at the indignant sound that followed. My smirk grew when I turned my head enough to see Phil’s indignant face. Now that my head wasn’t spinning, I could actually interrogate Anthony.

“Why are you up? The room doesn’t heal that fast, and that knife wound looked bad.” I glared at him, while he just raised an eyebrow. A different voice answered my question, making me snap around and have to fight off another dizzy spell.

“It’s been two hours since you passed out…” my world stopped spinning enough to see that Nate had spoken, and was holding up his wrist to show a watch.

“Oh…” that explained why Anthony was up and about. “Alright then. Hey, have any of you gone looking for Mark or Felix yet?” I got a bunch of Negatives, so I forced myself to stand up. Anthony stood as well, followed by Ian.

“Well then, Dan, Phil, could you go check the classrooms in this hall? Ian, Anthony, could you check the opposite hall, by the.. oh” I paused at the slightly panicked look on Ian’s face, and quickly reversed my statement.

“Actually, Dan and Phil, you go check the opposite hall. Ian and Anthony can take the hall right outside.” The four nodded reluctantly,

“what are you and… Nate right? what are you two going to do?” I smiled grimly at them, sighing.

“I’m going to make sure the purification worked and hopefully calm his energy so he can’t get possessed again.” Ian nodded, though I could see Nate tense up a bit and give me a look.

“I’m right here you know.” I had the decency to feel sheepish, apologizing softly as the other four men left,

“sorry, but we really do need to do this.” Nate stared at me, sighing, but came over to where I was sitting near the door.

“Alright, what do we need to do?”

“I’ll call the needed things, then do the ritual. All you have to do is sit still inside a circle.” He nodded, absently fiddling with his shirt.

I shook my head and began concentrating, hacking the game for the things I needed. It was odd, I thought as I worked, seeing Nate this quiet. Or any of them this freaked out. They were always loud and cheerful.

There was very little chanting involved, just a few words, sea salt and a silver candle. That being said, the sage hadn’t cleaned him out completely, as evidenced by a black sludge that leaked off and evaporated off of him as I purified him.

It took about a few minutes, but he was soon completely purified.

“All done.” Nate smiled wearily at me and laid back, falling asleep instantly. I settled next to him to wait for the other four, feeling bad that I hadn’t explained exactly what happened. However we needed to get out of here fast. The Shadow was bound to be more active now, so I could only hope that no one else got possessed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a kudos if you like, and a comment on If/who should get hurt and how bad~


	10. Explanations and search for the fifth

Of all the things I had expected to happen while in this damn game, having to act like a bloody doctor was not one of them. I mean seriously, could none of these men run?! Apparently not, as I was faced with an injured and annoyed Dan, being helped into the safe room by an apologetic Phil.

“What happened?” Dan wasn’t sobbing in pain, nor did Phil look horribly concerned, so they hadn’t been attacked by The Shadow…

“Phil and his bloody clutzyness is what happened. Idiot tripped and took me with him.” I raised an eyebrow, slowly standing from my spot against the wall by Nate, and went over to inspect him.

“I said sorry! How was I supposed to know there was a hole there?” The elder brit lowered Dan to the floor, wincing when Dan let out a gasp of pain. I knelt by him, taking in his wound. There wasn’t much blood, mostly just surface scratching, but his ankle was another story all together, as dark bruising and swelling had already developed.

“looks like a sprain, not something the room can just magically heal, so we’ll need to splint it.” Dan looked put out by this, but didn’t complain too much, just grumbling as I hacked for the splint. It didn’t take too long to apply. I helped Dan up and handed him over to Phil, directing them over to where Nate was. There were still two YouTube stars wandering about, so I needed to find them.

“I’m going to go get Ian and Anthony, did you two see them?”

“They were, ow, walking towards the stairs.” I nodded to Dan, heading to the door,

“Alright, I’m going to grab them then see if we can’t find Mark or Felix.” The two brits nodded and wished me luck as I headed out the door. Nate had apparently woken up though, and called out,

“Wait!” All of us glanced at him as he pulled himself upright, yawning slightly and wincing. “Could you please explain what the hell is going on? No one has explained anything besides that I had a demon in my body and I need to stay put!”

What? Had no one told him anything while I was out cold earlier? The sheepish looks from Dan and Phil told me enough, so I walked over and sat in front of Nate, cuffing the brits over the head as I sat.

“I’ll explain, since these two nor the others thought to.” I glared at the other two, who had the sense to back away. Nate gave a dramatic groan and a thanked me, settling.

“Okay, so we are inside the video game I Dm’ed you about, the one I wanted to know if you’d test?” I got a nod and disbelieving look, so I continued, “Somewhere between finishing the game and sending it off there was a glitch, causing a kind of portal, which sucked anyone who opened a new game file to be sucked inside. I only escaped because the game code recognized me a one of the creators, so I just hacked my way out, and sent off messages to everyone who was testing it.”

“Wait what?” Nate scoffed, “You’re saying that besides you and me, that these two and those other assholes got sucked in?”

“What did you think they were, NPC’s?”

“Touche.”

“Anyway, long story short, Dan and I went through Phil’s” I motioned to said man, “open portal so we could find everyone and bring y’all out. Unfortunately, I didn’t account for everyone being spread out, or The Shadow reaching one of you first.”

“The shadow?” Nate looked slightly ill, “The black shit you got out of me?” I nodded,

“It’s a data representation of a demon/ghost thing that lived in the other creators home, which didn’t bother her, but creeped the shit out of me.” I shuddered slightly, before continuing, “ possession is one of the features of the the game, if you make the wrong choices, i.e trusting one of the dead children. It usually results in a game over and a reset, which probably means you would’ve been free, but for some reason it didn’t.” I frowned for a second, still confused as to why that was.

Shaking my head, I motioned to the smoke around us. “This safe room heals such things, hence why I did that purification thing earlier.”

“Okay, but what does this have to do with me supposedly hurting someone?”

“You know corpse party right?” I got a confused nod.

“Remember the girl who was possessed and killed her friend after an argument with her? same thing happened here. Only difference is we had someone strong enough to get Ian down before he died.” Nate paled drastically.

“W.what…. no…” I just nodded sadly,

“yes, that’s why I did that second purification. without it, you could have been possessed again.” Nate placed his head between his leg, breathing shallowly. Phil crawled over and began to whisper to him, causing Dan and I to eye each other.

“Phil, Nate, I’ll be back. I’ve got to get Ian and Anthony, and see if we can’t find one of the others.” Nate was too upset, and Phil barely nodded as Dan helped me up, watching as I left and closing the door. Luckily for me, Ian and Anthony were only a couple of feet away.

Unluckily for me, they were being chased by bloody Termina.

She seemed extra upset, probably cause she didn’t off me earlier, and was taking it out on the smosh guys.

Great.

“Oi! Termina!” The guys stared at me like I’m an idiot as they ran passed, trying to wrench open the door to the safe room. Which was impossible, as I was in front of it. Termina paused, staring at me, a disconcerting feeling since her face was smashed in and her neck was twisted into a strange angle. Without flinching I pulled out a small plush dragon, which I had summoned behind my back, and showed it to her.

“Here,” My voice was gentle, urging her to take the toy, “I found it, you can rest now, don’t worry.” She stared at me more, before slowly taking the toy, trembling.

“Thank you…” The soft words slowly turned into a scream as black sludge dripped out of her mouth and dissolved, making all the hair on my body stand on end. This wasn’t supposed to happen, they were supposed to fade out and just leave a pile of black sludge!

“Dani…?” I jumped, not realizing someone had been shaking me.

“y.yeah?” Dammit, I am not going to stutter! Anthony raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth slowly sliding down.

“I’m fine.”I didn’t give them a chance to say otherwise, grabbing there hands and heading towards the down staircase. “I need your help to find either Mark or Felix.” They resisted slightly, but went with it when I glared them down.

None of us spoke, all lost in our heads over our situation, and kept our heads on the swivel. It seems that once they realized we weren’t going back any time soon, cause we have to find Mark or Felix, that Ian and Anthony decided I wasn’t going in any of the rooms. It was always them with me waiting in the hallway or door jamb, on edge and waiting for them to come back, making goosebumps a constant.

We cleared all the rooms between the safe room and stairs, then darted downstairs, clearing the first set of classrooms quickly. Eventually we hit a set of large double doors, probably a gym or theater of some sort, that had been blocked.

“Well… someone doesn’t want us inside…” muttered Ian sarcastically as he bent to move the rubble, Anthony and I also helping. The pile was haphazard, but still too orderly to be normal. That being said, it still took forever to clear the area in front of the door, let alone get inside.

“Dani, do we have to..?”

“Yes.” They both took a deep breath and nodded, shoving the doors open and glancing inside wearily. There wasn’t much, some dusty gym equipment and boxes, and a few old chairs. Slowly we made our way in, watching carefully. Good thing we did as no sooner did we step inside did we start getting debris thrown at us.

We shielded ourselves, hiding behind some boxes, waiting for the assault to finish. Soon it did and risked a peek. At first there was nothing, and I could feel myself deflate, defeated. Then I saw it.

Blue hair.


	11. Fifth of six and bloody ghosts

It was only a glimpse, but it was all I needed. I ducked down and pressed a hand down into Ian and Anthony’s shoulders. They raised an eyebrow.

“Well?” “It’s Mark.” I grinned, but frowned just as quick, spotting a problem.

“how the hell are we gonna get him to come with us? He’ not an idiot, and plays horror games for a living…” Ian snorted slightly, shrugging my hand off.

“Like this,” He stepped from behind the boxes, “Mark! get your pink haired, warfstache wearing ass over here before the creepy ass shadow man thing shows up!”

…really? He’s supposedly the smart one… oh well. The answer, of course, was a box tossed at his head, followed by Marks’ low voice, thick with wariness.

“Ian Hecox? Really? How the fuck do you even know who that is, you sick Shadow creature?” Great…. I stood up as well, leaning against the piled up crap, watching as Mark slowly came out of hiding to take the three of us in. He was coated in dust, dirt, and something else that I really didn’t want to find out about. The blue hair was now flat and lifeless, the gel probably washed away by sweat. He was holding a makeshift knife of cloth and glass, and had a tiny box with him. When had he even found a “tiny box tim?” Mark scanned the three of us, trying to judge something.

“Markiplier, We’re as real as you, not The Shadow. He’s off trying to figure out how to get into the safe room again.” He perked up slightly at my words, probably tired of hiding.

“Anthony? Ian?” the two men nodded, the former pointing at me.

“this is Dani, she helped develop this hell hole we’re currently stuck in.” I glared, but didn’t argue, instead focusing on Mark’s state.

“Are you injured?”

“No…” an earth shattering yawn shook through his body, “Just tired.” Anthony stepped back, motioning towards him,

“Let’s go back, this room…” A loud ring echoed through the large room, as if someone had set off a grandfather clock near us. All of us looked for the source, though Ians’ very manly yelp stopped that,

“Look!” Up on the stage was another ghost, eyes oddly bright and blood dripping from it left socket. The ghost looked to be a young man, maybe a junior in high school, and he was slowly moving towards us.

“Shit! Run!” No one needed to be told twice. We booked it out of the gym, not bothering to block it, down the hall, and into a empty classroom. I bent double, really out of shape, though the guys weren’t much better off, and waved a hand behind me.

“I forgot… about th..those damn… ZODIACS!” I groaned and collapsed on the dusty floorboards. “Bloody stupid ghosts…”

“Zodiacs?” Mark raised an eyebrow at me while Ian and Anthony settled on two of the old desks, listening.

“Yeah. There are supposed to be twelve child ghosts that you “free”…” I rolled my eyes, “To escape. Ken and Termina are two of them, though Ken doesn’t really have a “goal” as he’s the greeter. The other 11, Termina included, will try and kill you unless you find items that they left behind.” The guys gave me what my friends and I call “The Deadpan”, clearly over this.

“So you’re telling us…” Anthony started slowly, “We’ve got to find eleven random items?”

“No. We’ve got to locate the ghosts. I’ll just hack the game for the items.” I grinned slightly, though Mark looked slightly put out, relieved I could make this easy. “I doubt any of you will want to play this after I fix it, so it’s fine.”

“I do!” Mark looked put out, probably because the rest of us gave him a ‘yeah right’ glare, flailing his hands a bit. “It’s still a cool game! I was doing just fine, though I’d rather be back in my office, it’s cool!”

“Whatever you say…” I mutter, standing back up. “I’ve already taken care of Termina, so she’s not an issue. We got eyeball guy back in the gym, Ken, and ten others to take care of. So I suggest we go rest.”

They all agreed with this, Mark seemingly giving into his weariness at this point, and we all trudged out of the room and back to the second floor.

Of course we couldn’t just get back to the room though, nope no luck for us, since The Shadow decided to appear and chase us past the safe room, and the bathroom, all the way back to the stairwells. I did manage to hack some sage at the last moment so we got away, all but falling into the safe room, breathless and ready to sleep.

“Don’t ask until we rest,” I muttered before Dan or Phil could ask questions, “please.” I shut the door and slumped against it, barely waiting for the others to settle before shutting my eyes, sleep overtaking me. Only one more YouTuber and 11 more ghosts.

Joy to the bloody world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
I concluded not moments after I woke up from my nap that all YouTube creators had the mentality of young children. I mean seriously, why else would six grown men be engaged in a game of duck duck goose, short of stress I guess. 

“Um… anyone care to explain to me what’s going on?” I muttered, pushing myself fully upright with a wince. Concrete is not the most comfortable surface in the world.

Mark paused mid run which resulted in Dan, who was being chased, to smack right into him and cause a rather comical pile of limbs. The two had even managed to take out Ian and Nate at the same time, leaving only Phil untangled since Anthony jumped on top of them.

“Glad you’re awake Dani.” Phil grinned at me, letting out a childish grin. I just stared, feeling like I was inside a fever dream.

“Um… did y’all eat something strange? Because I clearly remember all of you in various states of tiredness and other emotions not this!” I really didn’t like this… Sure, the fact that they seemed relaxed should be a good thing, there was no f-ing way they should be like this.

“No…” Phil looked like I had spoken Japanese… 

The others had managed to untangle themselves by this point and one of them, not sure who, piped up,

“We’re just letting stress out Dani, we’ve been too tense, much more and someones gonna snap.” I blinked, realizing the truth behind the words. A sigh escaped me and I nodded.

“right, sorry…” I got a pat on the head in reply, making me splutter a bit flail at the hand, getting a laugh from the others.

“So,” I huffed, sitting up on my knees and ignoring their laughter, “Is everyone healed up?” There were several positive answers, a good sign.

“Excellent. So maybe we can split into two groups and start trying to get out of here? One group to find felix, the other to find ghosts?” The moment my statement was finished I noticed there were six incredulous looks.  
“what?”

“Danielle, did you forget one of the main tropes of horror?” Mark asked, sounding shocked.

“what… oh…” I slapped my forehead, “Right, splitting up is a bad idea, but we need to do multiple things!” Dammit, how were we supposed to do this quickly? 

“How about all of us but Ian and Dan go searching? That way there are people here who are fit if someone gets hurt?” Both men mentioned protested weakly to Marks’ suggestion, but they weren’t too against staying in the safe room.

“Okay, that’s fine.” I shrugged, concentrating for a moment before a few weapons appeared in front of me. Nothing much, just a knife or two and some what looked like a lead pipe.

“Here, just in case.” Each of the men, besides those staying behind, took something.

“Alright, lets go! we’ll be back.”


	12. The last of Six

Chapter 12

I really needed to stop with the horror tropes, because they kept biting me in the ass. Saying ‘we’ll be back’ ended up being a ‘let’s get chased by a giant ass shadow monster and split up!’ situation. 

Phil, Nate, and I went down. 

Mark and Anthony went up.

Guess who The Shadow chased? Phil, Nate and me. 

Greeaaaat. 

I made a split second choice and kept running down the hallway after we went down the stairs that led to the first floor, making a beeline for the basement. None of us had been down there yet, perhaps there was some sage laying around. I couldn’t stop to hack right now.

Eventually I paused, panting, in a small room around a sharp corner near the base of the stairs. I didn’t here The Shadow any more, so I assumes that it was gone.

“Dani!” The harsh whisper came from behind a stack of boxes nearby. Seems like Phil dove behind them and was missed by The Shadow. 

“You okay?”

“Yeah…” Good… slowly I peeked out and looked around. Phil must’ve heard me move, cause he peeked out as well, waving to me. A small grin crossed my face as I waved back, a little pleased by his upbeatness. It didn’t last long though, as I realized I hadn’t heard anything from Nate.

“Nate? Na…”

“Nate’s next to me.” A quiet ‘yoooo’ echoed over, and some tension in my shoulders relaxed, though I was still alert. 

There was no need though, as The Shadow had vanished into the dankness. With carefully placed steps, I made my way over to Nate and Phil, whom had both stood up and were coming towards me.

“Y’all okay?” They both nodded and relaxed slightly.There was no movement or sound besides our own as we walked from our hiding places over to towards the door. Nate reached it first and gave a tug. Locked.

“Dammit… okay, well I guess we can look for Felix down here?” he inquired, turning around and crossing his arms. I hummed some agreement and Phil just looked paler than normal. Poor man didn’t do horror and stress well apparently.

Seeing as we couldn’t go back, we headed deeper into the basement, Nate leading the way.

“If I remember correctly, this is the way to the boiler room…” I murmured, glancing around as I hacked the game for more sage. A soft zinging noise filled the air and something fell from the roof, making us jump.

“What was that?” 

“Just a part of the ceiling falling Phil.” 

“Oh.” Nate glanced back, listening to our conversation. 

“Hey Dani, is there supposed to be something here?” I thought for a moment, running through the ghosts… hm…

“yeah, there is one here. Kalli was killed by a boiler explosion, and left behind a red scarf.” Both guys cringed and glanced into the dimness that surrounded us.

“Let’s avoid the boiler for now, no?” Phil and I agreed, moving closer to Nate so that we were huddled up. It was about now I remembered that we needed light, and began searching for a flashlight. The other two caught on and helped out, occasionally coughing from all the dust.

“Aha!” A bright light filled the room as Phil shined a flashlight towards Nate and I.

“Found one…” He froze, gaping at something over my shoulder. Nate, who was in front of me turned around and also froze, 

“What the fuck?! oh that’s horrible!” 

“What?” I started turning around, only to be grabbed and yanked forward. At the same time, I felt something brush my back briefly before I was pulling into Nate’s chest. He manhandled me into running as he and Phil retreated from whatever the hell was behind us.

“What the hell?! Phil! Nate?!”

“GHOST!!!” Oh… Shit! I broke free of Nate and kept running with them. Eventually we found a small closet and dived inside of it, slamming the door shut.

It was darker than tar in that tiny closet, and I swear I was sitting on someone.

“Nate? Phil?” I reached out, hitting two chests in front of me. However, Phil let out a grunt from below me, shoving at my back.

“Get off Dani, you’re crushing me.” 

“Oh, sorry.” I started to move, pulling my hands from in front of me, when someoene grabbed me.

“Ah! Shit, Nate, don’t scare me like that!”

“I’m not touching you!!” those four words sent a sting of panic through me. I began to flail frantically to break the grip on my arm, falling on Phil again. The grip didn’t release, in fact it yanked me towards its owner. 

Still flailing around, I managed to smack Nate and the grips owners, getting a yelp and a string of… Swedish curse words? It shocked me out of my panic enough to stop accidentally injuring everyone.

“Felix…?”

“What you crazy woman?!” I couldn’t believe it, we had literally landed on Felix. The shock, fear and disbelief compiled and I began to laugh hysterically.

Phil had gotten up and flicked on a flashlight, confirming we had found Felix. 

“Um, Dani, are you okay?” I shook my head, laughing too hard to reply. Nate tugged me away from felix and had me sit against a wall. 

“Take a couple deep breaths.” I heard him and tried to get my laughter under control. While I did this, Phil was talking to Felix. 

After what felt like several hours, I got my breathing and laughter under control enough to cease and look up. Phil and Felix were looking at me with concern, though Felix seemed a bit wary.

“We ready to head back?” The other three nodded, Nate helping me up. “We’ll deal with that ghost another time. Right now, lets just get out of here.” 

Phil agreed, peeking out the door to check.

“Yeah, coast looks clear, lets go.” Quietly the four of us crept out of the closet and glanced around, heading towards the stairs. There was no ghost in sight, and we could only hope it stayed that way.

I had no idea how the other group was doing, and the worry that feeling brought clearly weighed on me. 

“Felix, are you hurt?” I whisper from my position behind him, getting a shake in response. Good.

Despite how tense we all were, there was no ghost that assaulted us as we reached the stairs and climbed up. No Shadow either.

Up on the first floor, I paused by the staircase and looked down the hall. Hmmm…

“You three go ahead, I’m going to find the others.” 

“Danielle, that’s a bad idea.”

“Nate, I’m more equipped than anyone to deal with whats here, get Felix upstairs.” I waved them off, smiling. Nate looked hesitant, but Phil tugged him and Felix along, trusting my judgement. 

I waited till they were gone to survey my surroundings. There was no sound but the steady drip of water and the soft wailing of a breeze, echoing through the dimness of twilight.

One deep breath and I was off, hoping I wouldn’t find the worst case scenario. 


	13. Something's wrong

At first, the first floor corridor was eerily quiet. When Jordan had designed the game, she had made the layout pretty simple, at least on the surface. I think she mentioned a more complex structure under the school, but I was a bit… distracted when she spoke to me. 

Anyway, there was nothing in the first half dozen rooms I checked, so I ended up back in the main entrance hall. Ken was still floating there, looking somewhat bored.

“Hello Ken.”

“Hm? Oh, hello.” He gave me a disinterested look, still in the same spot Dan and I had seen him in.  I glanced around, but didn’t see any sign of Mark or Anthony.

“Did you see you guys run by?” The ghost blinked slowly and floated towards the back of the entrance hall.

“yeah, they ran back towards the cafeteria. Was the shadow chasing them?” I shook my head. Ken sighed in relief and floated back towards the front door. I headed towards the cafeteria, calling a thanks to Ken.

“Dani.”

“Hm?” I turned, curious as to what the ghost wanted, and reeled back in shock. His eyes had vanished, leaving blank black holes, and the blood around his neck was flowing again.

“Somethings wrong with the world…” I froze, unable to tear my gaze away from Ken as he slowly faded away into nothingness. What was going on?! Not wanting to stay in the open and needing to find the others, I quickly hurried towards the cafeteria.

I didn’t want to think about the implications of Ken’s words, it was too terrifying to contemplate. So instead, I focused on finding Mark and Anthony.

“Mark! Anthony!” Over and over I called this, avoiding broken floor parts and furniture all the while. The cafeteria was at the end of a long hallway, off to the right from the gym and kitchen, though it was surrounded by glass windows.

As I searched, I couldn’t help but feel watched, like someone was just outside of my line of sight. It was unnerving and set me on edge. Maybe that's why I nearly knocked out Mark when he grabbed me by the shoulder.

“Shit!” He raised his arms to protect his face, wincing when my forearm met his. He was standing in the door way of the staff room by the cafeteria.

Slowly I lowered my arm, grinning sheepishly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to.” Mark waved my apology off,

“No problem, we’re all on edge.” As he spoke Anthony walked out of the same room, holding a small notebook. It was faded but appeared to have been brightly colored at one point, and had the name ‘Nellie’ written across the front. I grinned at him,

“Ya found an artifact?! Awesome!”

“A what?” A soft scream echoed down the hall before I could answer, making us all spin around. Looks like I had been watched as standing in one of the broken windows was a young girl wearing a blue cap and a tattered trench coat. She looked horrid, drenched in blood from what had been a harsh beating. Part of her face was collapsed in, and her stomach had several large scratches in it.

All of us froze as she screamed again and leapt at us. Thinking quickly, I yanked the notebook out of Anthony’s hands and held it out, not fighting the guys when they yanked me back some. The girl stopped and landed inches from us, staring at the notebook in front of her.

“Take it…” I whispered, flinching a bit when she grabbed it. There was a moment of silence then she smiled and began dissolving away. Half way through the this though she started screaming and instead of dissolving away she turned to black sludge, then vanished.

I jumped back and stared in shock. That wasn’t supposed to happen! What the hell was going on?!

“Dani?!” I glanced up at Anthony and shook my head, heading back the way we came.

“We need to go back, now.” The two men followed and I could feel their confusion. I ignored it in favor of carefully sneaking back down the hall, past the main entrance, and down the second hall to the stairs.

We moved in silence, not daring to speak for fear of attracting The Shadow. The building creaked ominously and shadows danced in the moonlight coming through grime covered windows. As we got to the stairs, another scream echoed the halls, but this one was far louder and male.

Concerned and worried about the others, I ran up the stairs, the echoing foot falls behind me indicating that Mark and Anthony were doing the same. We reached the second floor and I looked around wildly, trying to find the source.

“Check the surrounding rooms!” I got two grunts of confirmation and started looking into classrooms, searching for the source of the scream. I didn’t have to wait long, as Mark called Anthony and I over to the room he was at.

Both of us hurried over to him and were met by a horrifying and worrying scene. Phil was doubled over, clutching his arm and stomach, hiding in a corner. Nate was next to him and crouched, obviously trying to patch him up some. Finally there was Felix.

The Swede was out cold on the floor, blood slowly oozing from a cut on his head.

“Shit, what the hell?!” Anthony and Mark went to Felix, carefully checking him over. Nate looked up at them, frowning wearily. He too was cut up and seemed tired.

“The Shadow showed up, along with another ghost. They chased us up to the third floor before we could get to the safe room.” I went over and knelt by Nate and Phil, glancing the bloody brit over. He wasn’t looking too good, sporting several large cuts and was apparently really tender around his stomach area. His eyes were clenched shut in pain, grunting as Nate continued to wrap his arm.

“Phil?” His opened his eyes slightly,

“The Shadow possessed the ghost or something… It let the damn thing touch us.” He coughed, and I couldn’t bring myself to care about Phil suddenly cursing, as blood dripped from his lips.

“It scratched me and knocked me down through a hole onto the second floor…” Nate took over as Phil let out a whine of pain and tensed again.

“We found him in here,” Nate motioned to a hole above us, indicating where Phil fell from, “Felix got knocked out trying to block the damn thing from coming in. He succeeded, but fell hard into the corner of a desk.” I nodded and went to the door, peeking out.

“It’s clear right now… Anthony, Mark, do you think you can move Felix?” They nodded and lifted the man up. “Go ahead, it’s only a couple doors down.”

“Alright.” The two hurried out the door while I went back to Phil and Nate,

“Can you handle us moving you?” Phil took a deep breath and pulled his arm away from his stomach for a moment, only to wince and put it back.

“I think, if you two can take… most of my weight.” I frowned in worry. His breathing was ragged and uneven. Still I nodded and slipped a protective arm around his waist, Nate doing the same, and lifted. Between the two of us, we were able to move him slowly out the door and down the hall.

Mark was waiting and opened the door. It was obvious that they had told Ian and Dan, as the former was holding the latter back until we got in. Mark closed the door and settled next to Felix, who was groggy but awake.

Nate and I had barely settled Phil onto the ground before Dan was by us.

“What happened?!” He demanded. I didn’t answer, allowing Nate to explain while I made Phil comfortable.

“Dani, can’t you do something?” I turned to Dan, frowning.

“I’m not a doctor, Dan. The room will eventually heal him, but it will take a while.”

“Why not magic up some medicine?” I shook my head again, adjusting myself so Phil’s upper back was resting on my lap.

“I can’t… not right now. Something’s wrong with the game.” This caught all of their attention, and I suddenly found myself surrounded with upset faces.

“What do you mean?” demanded Ian, looking worried. I sighed and ran a hand through my dirty hair.

“Ken mentioned something’s wrong, and before we found the others, Mark, Anthony, and I met one of the ghosts. You remember how I gave her the journal and what happened after.” Both men nodded, frowning.

“That’s not what is supposed to happen. The ghosts are supposed to dissolve peacefully away.” I started petting Phil’s hair absently, causing a raspy sigh to pass through his lips. Dan glanced at him and got a small smile and a hand reached toward him. None of us commented when the two locked hands, as all of us were leaning against or touching someone out of comfort right now.

“So you’re saying that you can’t hack right now?” Asked Mark, getting a confused look from Felix and a nod from me.

“Yes, I can’t risk destabilizing the game more right now. I’m going to wait until Phil is healed at the very least before trying again.” He nodded and turned to Felix to fill him in.

Everyone mumbled to someone and scattered, though Dan remained next to Phil. I leaned back and closed my eyes, resigned to the long wait before we could work on getting out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for how long this chapter took! Life has been kicking my ass recently. I'll try to get chapters up more often, but inspiration is fickle.


	14. Notice

Sorry to those who were hoping for an update. I recently reread this and found a lot of holes, so I'm going to be rewriting this. I'll also be changing some characters and settings, as I've changed the 'game' in my head. I'll leave the original up (this one) but I'm going to be replacing the chapters one by one.  
Happy reading

Addition: I got a comment asking about this, so I'll elaborate. I'll be making a new story. The first three chapters are already up. It's not a completely 'new' story (I'm using the chapters from this version) but I'm fixing plot holes that were created from not having a solid story for the game, as well as character behaviors and grammar. Plus I wanted to add Dark and Anti, which requires re-writing several chapters to add Jack and the egos since they aren't in the original. 

I have a far more solid plan now for this story than when I originally wrote it, and I plan to get all the updated chapters out in the next week or so before I write brand new chapters.

Here's the link to the new story: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12558628/chapters/28601600


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